What is a suggested mac pro hardware setup that can handle rendering 3D animations in After Effects with short rendering times? Also, is a beefed up macbook pro also an option or will I be experiencing long rendering times with it? Lastly, my current computer really struggles with after effects especially when I start working with 3D text so is another option to just improve upon what I currently have?

Are you referring to using CS6's obsolete ray-traced renderer, a third-party option (like Element 3d, Zaxwerks 3d Invigorator, or Mettle's Shape Shifter), or are you referring to the brand new Cineware effect?

If you're talking about the ray-traced renderer, the GPU matters a lot and you haven't mentioned what's in your machine.

If you're talking about a third-party option, then it depends on the option.

If you're talking about Cineware, your CPU is of the utmost importance.

A MacBook Pro would be a poor choice. It will work (depending on the specs), but you tend to get more power for your money in a desktop or workstation vs. a portable computing option.

In simple terms, you need lots of RAM, a fast CPU with multiple processor cores, and at least one very fast disk (preferably an SSD) for your disk cache. The GPU matters very little, with the exception that Szalam mentioned.